Israeli police arrested Palestinian protesters, including an Adalah lawyer, after they waved the Palestinian flag

This evening, Friday 26 January 2023, police arrested five protestors during a demonstration in Haifa, who were protesting against the Israeli military’s killing of 9 Palestinians yesterday in the city of Jenin in the West Bank, after preventing them from waving the Palestinian flag.

Among the protesters who were violently arrested was a lawyer from Adalah  - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. The attorney was advising protesters as to their right to wave the Palestinian flag and was present to ensure that the police would not violate protesters’ rights. He repeatedly demanded that police officers stop instructing protesters to put down the flag, as this is illegal under Israeli law.

A statement issued by the Haifa police explicitly stated that the activists were arrested because they refused to put down the Palestinian flags. The police statement reads as follows: “During the demonstration, five protesters waved Palestinian flags … after they were told by the police commander at the scene that raising the Palestinian flag might cause a severe breach of the peace of the public, they were instructed to put down their flags, when they didn’t do so, the police commander decided to detain them for interfering with a policeman and disrupting public order…The suspects were brought in for questioning at the police station in Haifa, and depending on the findings of the investigation, the police will consider whether to ask Haifa Magistrate's Court for an extension of  [the protesters’] detention.”

Adalah responded:

“The police not only arbitrarily arrested demonstrators who were legitimately expressing their right to protest, but also conducted a violent attack against their right to legal representation. These unjustified arrests were carried out without a legal basis, as Adalah has made clear to the Haifa police station in recent weeks. These arrests constitute another escalation in the attempt to terrorize Palestinian citizens and prevent them from expressing their national identity and opposition to the state's violent actions against their people.”